I finally saw a banner ad that spoke directly to me—in a way, it kinda served as a to-do list, which came in handy seeing as how I saw it as soon as I powered up my all-in-one Mac first thing this morning. It more than spoke to me. It freakishly predicted my next moves.The ad, which promoted some sort of ADHD drug, opened with a woman on her laptop, then burst into bubbles of what was going on through her mind:

“Google my high school boyfriend.” “Shop for new shoes.” And some other things that I apparently didn’t pay attention to…probably because the aforementioned commands really sparked the synapses.

Overall, the ad housed my Internet train of thoughts exactly. Apparently I must have ADHD. I don’t medicate it, rather I embrace it. You never know where sparks of inspiration, moments of brilliance or new networking opportunities will come from. Hence, the need to Google my high school boyfriend. Funny thing is, we have so many tools (not meds) to help us with our ADHD. RSS feeds. Facebook. News alerts. It seems like just the time I start wondering about something, my online tools have beat me to it. I could have scrambled all over the Internet trying to see what Chad, my high school boyfriend, was up to. Turns out, he just got married. After the banner ad reminded me of things to do, I logged onto Facebook and ironically, Chad’s wedding album came up in my feed.

Seems like he’s enjoying a fruitful life with his lovely wife, whom he married on some private island in Hawaii. Good for him. I’m not bitter, because I remembered the banner ad also prompted me to “Shop for new shoes.” Nothing like a little retail therapy in the shoe department to take the edge off Googling an ex-boyfriend.

It’s not enough to speak the consumers’ language anymore, we must be more engaged in their lives and strive to be one step ahead of them and give them what they want. If we can think of what they might need next, then we can win them over on the, Yeah- that-brand-gets-me factor.

Remember to walk a mile in your consumers’ shoes. You'll get a better sense of their feelings and behaviors. The more we know, the better we can think on their level, even beyond speaking their language. And if we can successfully do that, essential the great minds of the marketer and the consumer will think alike, even if those minds are a little scattered-brained—as with the case of me and my ADHD banner ad interaction.

In case you were wondering, the ad didn’t encourage me to ask my doctor about the medicine, but it probably spiked some sales for Zappos.

Just for fun, you can take the ADHA assessment quiz.

If you choose to Google an ex, here’s the zappos.com link for immediate alleviation of any traces of PTSD.